wherethefmi2000
wherethefmi2000 New Reader
11/16/08 10:08 a.m.

LSD at least from what I gather.

bequietanddrive
bequietanddrive
11/16/08 10:33 a.m.

I would imagine some negative camber up front would help a good bit.

bigwrench
bigwrench New Reader
11/16/08 10:37 a.m.

I use higher air pressure in rear to get back to rotate as front pulls out. You brake harder (stab) for short time and get back on the gas before apex.

DWNSHFT
DWNSHFT New Reader
11/16/08 10:39 a.m.

First, are we talking about initial turn-in, from the turn-in point to the apex, or are we talking all the way through the turn? The first one is called turn-in, the second is plain old understeer.

For better turn-in, trail-braking will help. It's a difficult skill but works wonders and there's no installation. :-)

Also, toe-out on the front wheels will aid turn-in. It's also pretty easy to install. :-)

To combat understeer, over-inflate the rear tires. That's easy to do. A better solution is to increase stiffness in the rear suspension. Either springs or anti-roll bar is easy to do.

If the car is balanced until you try to accelerate, then you need a good LSD.

David

iceracer
iceracer Reader
11/16/08 11:11 a.m.

Get as much caster as you can plus what everyone has said,

bigwrench
bigwrench New Reader
11/16/08 11:16 a.m.

LSD??

pigeon
pigeon Reader
11/16/08 1:24 p.m.
DWNSHFT wrote: To combat understeer, over-inflate the rear tires. That's easy to do. A better solution is to increase stiffness in the rear suspension. Either springs or anti-roll bar is easy to do.

Not being a jerk, but overinflating the tires is increasing suspension stiffness. Everyone forgets that the tires are part of the suspension as just big ol' air springs. Of course, just increasing tire inflation has its own separate set of side effects apart from increasing suspension stiffness, which is why increasing the spring rate or anti-roll bar size (for this purpose probably the latter is better) is a better overall solution, fewer compromises.

Per Schroeder
Per Schroeder Technical Editor/Advertising Director
11/16/08 5:45 p.m.

Big toe out. We've got 1/4" in the MINI now. Turns in like a monkey on meth.

iceracer
iceracer Reader
11/16/08 8:00 p.m.

Some limited slips will cause a push when decelerating.

Twin_Cam
Twin_Cam Dork
11/16/08 8:50 p.m.

I was going to say toe-out also. 1/4" is what I had on my Saturn and the turn-in was telepathic. It was borderline violent. Toe is how the wheels are facing when the steering wheel is straight forward. Zero toe is the tires are perfectly straight, perpendicular to the front of the car. Toe-out is when the front of the tires are, you guessed it, pointing out slightly, the fronts of the two tires farther apart than the rear. Toe-in is the opposite.

The thing with toe-out on a road car, it makes them really twitchy, especially on the highway, so I would recommend starting at zero toe for a road-going car, which would still be an improvement, because most stock alignment specs have some toe-in.

And tire wear will be affected, most likely, if you go above zero toe. But my Saturn was a auto-x-only vehicle, tire wear was not on my radar

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH SuperDork
11/16/08 9:13 p.m.

As actual modifications go, a stiffer rear sway bar if necessary, but front toe-out and proper tire pressures are good tweaks. Also if your factory alignment is rear toe-in, you should run zero toe on the rear. Some really daring people even run rear toe-out.

cxhb
cxhb New Reader
11/17/08 12:47 a.m.

im running a 24mm rear sway bar on my civic. it feels pretty nice. but i think an lsd would help more. that comes with money later...

CivicSiRacer
CivicSiRacer Reader
11/17/08 9:30 a.m.

On my 91 Civic Si for STS I had a conservative 1/8" toe out front and 0 toe rear. Not as twitchy as 1/4".

If you are concerned about tire wear you shouldn't be racing :)

Bobzilla
Bobzilla New Reader
11/17/08 5:22 p.m.

Definately step up the rear sway bar.

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